The following is a true story about lifeling camp friendship, submitted by Paul Ringel (1961-1970):
"About one month ago (July, 2019), two eternal camp friends demonstrated the meaning of “forever and forever Waupaca!”.
"My brother Marc Ringel (1958-1966) and Jeff Denenberg (1960-1966), who have maintained a very close friendship (begun at Camp Waupaca) for about 60 years, found themselves almost next door to each other in Rochester, MN at The Mayo Clinic. Jeff has had end stage kidney disease for a good while, and it has necessitated hemodialysis three days per week for ~three hours per session; as a physician with numerous similar patients, I know that both the dialysis lifestyle and side effects are intrusive at minimum, and frequently onerous. The ideal solution to this problem is kidney transplantation, but as is commonly known via the press, the number of people needing kidneys (and all organs) exceeds the supply by many orders of magnitude.
"Marc knew very well of Jeff’s plight, as well as his multiple unsuccessful attempts to find a medical center that was willing to consider his candidacy as an “older” patient. So Marc, being the incredible mensch that he is (this is just a statement of fact; I’m not biased in his favor as his brother-- he used to and can STILL kick my ass), stepped up and offered one of his kidneys-- it turns out that they were a good match so The Mayo Clinic (after extensive testing) decided to proceed with the transplantation. It was a resounding success-- Marc was immediately back to his usual lifestyle, and Jeff is off of dialysis, peeing quite well, and from what I understand feeling more dandy than he has in years. (Note: I checked with Marc & Jeff who were fine with disseminating this info, though Jeff wanted to and did ask his new kidney if it was okay to go public).
"Marc* and Jeff were not “Honor Boys” very often, so there is hope for most of us run-of-the-mill campers to maintain or create incredible friendships, and perform mitzvahs!
"(*Marc did win The Dave Weiner Award in 1960, and both were Braves; this does not, however, detract from my last statement above)."
Paul Ringel (1961-1970)
(Webmaster's note: HIPAA laws have not been violated, as both participants gave their permission per the author)